Using the Checklist and Audited Checklist Artifacts

Using the Checklist Artifact, you can create any number of checklist elements that a user can work through to ensure that the required aspects of a task or object have been addressed in completing the task or developing the object. The user can select a checkbox against each item to indicate that the point has been addressed, and you can configure the checklist to show selected items in gray or struck out so that unselected items are more obvious.

The user can re-use the checklists as well - the context menus for individual elements in a diagram, multiple elements in a diagram, and the diagram itself all have options for clearing the checkboxes so that the checklists are ready to use again to restart a process.

The Audited Checklist is an extension of the Checklist Artifact, having an associated 'Audit Records' page. It is a useful tool for Project Management, providing the facility to monitor accountability and track completion of tasks.

You can have a sequence of Checklists that must be completed in order - the first Checklist in the sequence must be complete before any checkboxes on the next Checklist are enabled for selection. This order of completion is established by creating Dependency connectors between the Checklist elements.

The target Checklist element of the Dependency becomes a prerequisite, and the source Checklist becomes a dependent
All items on the prerequisite Checklist must be selected before any items on the dependent Checklist can be selected
A prerequisite Checklist cannot have items deselected whilst the dependent Checklist has items selected
Clearing a prerequisite Checklist will also clear any dependent Checklists (as they cannot have selected items whilst the prerequisite Checklist is clear)
New items can be added to a prerequisite Checklist, but only if they are set to selected before saving (for the first new item a warning message displays; thereafter the new items are automatically set to selected)
Clearing a Checklist and its dependents will affect all Checklists in the hierarchy even if they are external to the current Package or diagram

Create a Checklist element

You create an empty Checklist element by dragging the 'Checklist' icon onto a diagram from the 'Artifacts' page of the Diagram Toolbox. The 'Artifacts' page is always present, at the bottom of every Toolbox.

You can also create a ready-to-use Requirements Checklist with appropriate items already in place, by selecting the 'Requirements Checklist' icon from the 'Extended Requirements' page of the Diagram Toolbox (click on the More tools button and select 'Requirements').

Set up a Checklist

To populate a Checklist element with items, double-click on the Checklist element in the diagram. The 'Checklist items' dialog displays, with the cursor in the field at the top of the dialog ready to receive the first item name.

Simply type in the item name, then press the Enter key to display and move to the next item entry field.

To the left of each item is a checkbox. If you want the checkbox to default to selected when the element is used, click on the checkbox here.

At the bottom of the dialog is the 'Checked Item Style' field. Click on the drop-down arrow and select whether to apply no style to items with a selected checkbox ('<None>') or to display the selected items with a line through them ('Strikeout') or in pale gray ('Grayed').

When you have finished setting up the checkbox, click on the Close button.

Edit a Checklist

To change the text, selection status or sequence of items in a Checklist element, double-click on the element to display the 'Checklist Items' dialog and click on the item to change. To:

Change the text of the item, simply click again and type over the current text (or right-click and select the 'Edit item' option)
Delete the item, right-click on it and select the 'Delete item' option
Toggle the status of the checkbox, click on the checkbox (or right-click and select the 'Toggle item check' option)
Move the item to a different position in the sequence of items, right-click and select either the 'Move item up' or 'Move item down' option
Change the selected item style for all items in the checklist, click on the 'Checked Item Style' drop-down arrow and select the appropriate option

Click on the Close button to save your changes and close the dialog

Make a Checklist available to users

To make a Checklist available to other users, create it on a diagram that the users can access directly. Alternatively, save the diagram as a Pattern that the users can draw on as the basis for creating their own Checklist diagrams.

Work with a Checklist

To record, on a Checklist element on a diagram, the completion of an action or the presence of an object, simply click on the appropriate checkbox to select it.

If you need to clear a checkbox, or several checkboxes, you can either:

Click on each checkbox again, or
Right-click on the Checklist element and select the 'Clear Checklist' option (all checkboxes in that element), or
Select a number of Checklist elements, right-click on one of them and select the 'Clear Checklist' option (all checkboxes in all selected elements), or
Right-click on the diagram background and select the 'Clear all Checklists' option (all checkboxes in all checklists on the diagram)

You can re-use the cleared Checklist for another step, stage or process.

The Audited Checklist

You can set up an Audited Checklist and other workers can make use of it, both in exactly the same way as for a Checklist. However, there is an additional context menu option - 'View audit log' - that displays an 'Audit records' page for the Audited Checklist. This 'Audit records' page is generated only for Audit Checklists, created using the 'Artifacts' toolbox page.

This page shows each change made to the checklist, the date and time of the change, who made the change, the type of change and what the change is. As shown, the changes include those made in creating or updating the checklist and the changes made by users selecting or clearing the checkboxes, including:

Adding Checklist items (which also records the state they were set in)
Deleting items
Re-setting the state of each item
Completing a Checklist
De-selecting an item on a completed Checklist
Making a Checklist a pre-requisite or dependent of another Checklist
Renaming a pre-requisite or dependent Checklist
Making a Checklist no longer the pre-requisite or dependent of another Checklist

Changes committed at the same time (such as when you click on an OK button) have one time stamp, as illustrated by the 'Add' changes in the audit log image.

If necessary, you can export the total contents of the 'Audit Records' page to a .csv file. To do this:

Click on the Export button; the 'Export List' dialog displays.
Browse for and select the appropriate directory in which to store the file.
Enter a filename for the file, and click on the Save button.

The file is saved and can then be opened in any external spreadsheet application, such as Excel.